


Carnations

by Broookeneedstochill



Series: under-appreciated tropes/tags [1]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Flowers, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, My First Fanfic, Not A Happy Ending, POV First Person, Unrequited Love, poor beans, surgeries, this gets really sad really quick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17374940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broookeneedstochill/pseuds/Broookeneedstochill
Summary: Josh Dun is an idiot. But Ty might just be even more of an idiot.This is what happens when I enter a writing contest with a 1200 word limit... might wanna get the tissues for the ending





	Carnations

Choking. Coughing. Crying. All because I’m an idiot. All because I just had to say hi to the cute junior with pink hair in the back of my music theory class.  
Now, there are yellow flower petals littered across the carpeted floor, all the way from my cramped bedroom, through the hallway, and to the bathroom sink, where at least forty more lie mockingly. “Guess I’d better grab the vacuum, before my roommate comes home and questions me like the Spanish Inquisition,” I think, already moving towards the closet, when my phone begins to ring in the other room.  
I sigh, walk to it, and pick it up, feeling bittersweet when the junior with pink hair’s name appears on my caller ID. After about three seconds of indecision, I tap the green icon and put the phone up to my ear.  
“Hey, Josh.”  
“Hey Ty!” Gosh, I missed his voice… “So, um, sorry if you were busy but uh...well, I was wondering if, sometime this week, you’d like to help me out with that semester project we have in Music Theory? I mean i-it’s fine if you can’t bu-”  
“Josh,” I interrupt, chuckling at his hopeless stammering, “I would love to help you with a project. When do you want to meet?”  
He shuffled around for a few minutes before suggesting, “Uhh, is around 4 on Thursday good with you?”  
“Yeah sure,” I reply, quickly thinking through my class schedule. “I’ll bring us some Taco Bell for dinner.”  
“Okay, sick. I guess I’ll see you later then.”  
“Yup, see ya J!”  
-  
‘So, what’s up with the flower petals and you almost dying earlier?’ I’m sure is basically what you’re wondering right now. Well, that would be Hanahaki disease—an illness characterized by the coughing up of flower petals when one experiences unrequited love. I was diagnosed with it about four months ago, just a little bit after I met Josh. I bet you can guess who I have feelings for then, huh? The disease can be treated with surgery, to remove both the flowers from your lungs and feelings from your heart. Otherwise, if the person you love reciprocates the feelings, then you’ll be cured. Some people refuse to get surgery, in case the other’s feelings change, and sadly a lot of those people will end up dying from Hanahaki.  
I shouldn’t have to worry about that though; my mom is gonna help me pay for surgery in a few weeks (my hanahaki is spreading a lot quicker than most people’s). And I won’t have to worry about Josh liking me—as far as I know, he’s straight. Plus I’m just a lousy college kid who writes stupid songs, there’s no way someone as cool as Josh could like me…  
-Two days later-  
I sigh as I stand in front of my dresser, debating between sucking it up and going to Josh’s place, or calling the meeting off and feigning a cold. Unfortunately, just as I’m mentally planning a text about how I can’t go over today, my phone vibrates with a text from Josh. Goodness, that man has both impressive and devastating timing.  
‘Hey, can’t wait to hang with you later! Just wanted to let you know, Jordan's having me watch Jim this week while he’s in Cali.”  
Oh god, his brother’s puppy is going to be there. That basically means I have to go over—that dog is way too cute! Okay, well maybe that’s just an excuse for me to go to Josh’s, but still… Puppy!  
Twenty minutes later, I’m getting into my car--a hoodie and some skinny jeans thrown onto my slender frame. The journey to Taco Bell and then to his small, rented house, is silent, due to the fact that somebody stole my car radio (seriously, who does that?). Therefore, the five-minute drive is filled with just enough thinking for my anxiety to get the best of me.  
As I pull up to J’s cheap, yet well-kept, rented house, I feel my airways start to clog up, and my eyes start to water. “Ughh, no… no, why here? Why now??”  
My car rolls to a stop and my eyes water, the panic attack I’ve been awaiting all week, teaming up with yellow, cursed petals, to block my throat. My eyes are screwed shut, and my coughing so preoccupying that I barely notice Josh running down his driveway, and to my car. He opens the car door, and in vain I try to turn from him and conceal the petals.  
I can vaguely hear Josh gasp at my yellow adversaries over Jim’s worried barking and whining. Josh rubs my back, whispering a mantra of “hey, its okay”s and “Jesus, Ty”s.  
At last, the coughing fit ends, and leaves me and J sitting in quiet. I try not to look at him, although Jim’s whimpering is near enough for me to face my crush.  
“Tyler… wha-why didn’t you tell me you…?” Josh stutters out, just before I conclusively close the car door on him and drive away.  
-  
The next time I talk to Josh, I’m beginning to recover from the surgery to remove my flowers. My mother decided I should stay with her in our childhood home while I got better, since I can’t go to any classes anyways. As I lied in my old bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, I heard a quiet knock on the door, and rustling from my mom getting off the couch to open it. The next thing I heard was… a voice-a weirdly familiar voice. Maybe I was still being affected by the drugs the hospital sent home with me,or maybe I was just tired, but I couldn’t quite identify the owner of the voice. Suddenly the soft conversation between mom and the stranger ended, and someone with heavy footsteps was climbing up the stairs—just as my anxiety was climbing up through my throat.  
The door creaked open, like something from a B-rated horror movie, but I didn’t turn to see who was there. Perhaps part of me already knew.  
“Hey, Ty.” It was Josh’s soothing voice that reached my ears, but not quite my brain, in that moment. “I-uh… I brought you some flowers-which uh, probably wasn’t the best thing to get you considering the situation… but, um. I left them with your mom so she could put them in a vase.”  
A few awkwardly silent moments passed before I could find my voice. “Ehm, t-thanks Josh. What kind did you get?”  
“Red carnations. I uh, asked the florist to get something symbolizing love, and uh, that’s what he recommended.” The second sentence hit me like a bomb, taking its sweet time to reach the ground, but shattering everything once it did.  
“Love?”  
“Yeah.. love”  
“Josh, you… You know that surgeries for Hanahaki—they’re supposed to remove all of your feelings for the person.”  
“Yeah, I know, Ty,” he solemnly replied. “I know...”

**Author's Note:**

> oof okay so, again, I wrote this for a young author's competition at my school and the word limit was 1200 words... plus this was basically my first fic ever for this fandom and i really suck at writing with a maximum word count so the only way i could get this under 1200 was to make it incredibly sad and a cliff-hanger so...  
> comment below pls if you want a sequel or a separate, slow burn hanahaki fic that actually has a good ending cuz this one really makes me want to cry.  
> follow my tumblr if you want, I'm broookeneedstochill.


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